Chapter 5:

Agricultu
re
Group 2

Abilgos, Alabado, Amacio, Barrios, Bernal

Chapter 5: Agriculture

Efficiency of Traditional Agriculture

Traditional agriculture 
 based on treating the soil and plants
with products that are more likely than
not noxious, and more likely than not
synthetically produced in a laboratory.
 These products are used to prevent
disease or pests from blighting the
plant.
 Chapter 5: Agriculture
Efficiency of Traditional Agriculture
Efficiency of Traditional Agriculture
 Refined methods of cultivation
.  Crop rotation
 Water use
 Farm animals in soil fertility
 Varieties in weather factor
 Availability and quality of traditional
seeds and other varieties.
Chapter 5: Agriculture

Why Do Farmers Resist Innovation and

Modernization?
OBJECTIVE:
To maximize family’s chances of
survival, not to maximize profit.
Subsistence farming
 Occurs when farmers grow food crops
to feed themselves and their families.  Uncertainties of change
 Farm output is targeted to survival and
mostly for local requirements with little
or no surplus trade.
 Cultural value of the traditional
farming system
 Traditional farming system
define the role of individuals in
the family
 2 square meals instead of 3
 Children might stop schooling.
 Serve the landlords as
servants.
 Inadequate insurance and credit to
serve as fall back mechanism in the
event of crop failure.
Chapter 5: Agriculture

Why Do Farmers Resist Innovation and

Modernization?
Chapter 5: Agriculture

Why Do Farmers Resist Innovation and

Modernization?

Landlords secured Government

all the gains guaranteed
price was not paid
Disincentives
to Increasing
Productivity
Lenders captured Complementary inputs
all the profits were not made available
Chapter 5: Agriculture

Microeconomics of Agriculture
Depends on

u t  Land size
u t tp  Soil Fertility
Inp Ou  Weather
 Flooding
Land
 Drought
Labor
Harvest  Disasters
Fertilizer
 Land Tenure
Irrigation
 Technology
 Storage &
Marketing
Chapter 5: Agriculture

What Really Worked?

Phenomenon
Green created by the
Revolution development of
higher-yielding
Variety of rice at the
Fertilizer Int’l Research
Institute in Los
Banos.

Irrigation
Chapter 5: Agriculture

What Really Worked?

Green Revolution
 Is a phenomenon created by the development of higher-yielding
variety of rice at the International Research Institute in Los Banos.
 Is a large increase in crop production in developing countries
achieved by the use of fertilizers, pesticides and high yield crop
varieties.
 It happened in the year 1960s and onwards.
 It helped the rich farmers rather than the small farmers.
Chapter 5: Agriculture

Green
What Really Worked?
Revolution Percentage of Total Increased Production
Fertilizer, Pesticide
& Herbicides
IRRIGATION
Attributed
to Land Attribute
    Area     d to Yield    
Irrigate Other
Country Year Annual d Rain-Fed Total Fertilizer s Total
    Growth Land and Upland        
                 
India 1965-70 3.2 19.2 5.8 25 47.3 27.7 75
Indonesia 1965-72 4.8 46.4 -6.8 39.6 25.2 35.2 60.4
Myanmar 1965-73 0.8 35.8 -23.3 12.5 47.8 39.7 87.5
Philippines 1965-73 3.4 33.1 -7.7 25.4 44.5 30.1 74.6
Sri-Lanka 1660-68 4.8 37.7 11.1 45.8 31.9 22.3 54.2
Thailand 1965-72 2.1 10.8 82.2 93 13.6 -6.6 7
Chapter 5: Agriculture

Really Did not help Much?

1. Farm Size

2. Changes in Land
Tenure
Chapter 5: Agriculture

Really Did not help Much?

1. Farm Size
 There is an inverse relationship between farm size and overall
farm productivity.
 Inverse relationship disappears with the use of farming
intensity, land quality, use of irrigation and technology.
2. Changes in Land
Tenure
 Land distribution is an issue so that programs on land
redistribution is advocated on equity grounds.
Chapter 5: Agriculture

Macroeconomic Aspects of Agriculture

Agriculture in Asia is an intensive sector

 Adopt a labor and capital-intensive technology.
 Keep undervalued exchange to maintain appropriate
trading terms and promote appropriate labor-intensive
production technology.
Chapter 5: Agriculture

Modernizing Agriculture

√ Mechanization and demand for labor

√ Technological transfer, growth, and equity
√ Genetic Engineering
√ Zero tillage
√ Research and development
√ Food prices and linkages to energy
√ International trade and resource transfer
√ Shifts out of primary grain production
 Thank
Group 2

you!
Abilgos, Alabado, Amacio, Barrios, Bernal